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All Rise...

After trying to figure out what's going on in this incomprehensible action flick, Appellate Judge Mac McEntire needs to go lie down for a while.

The Charge

The battle to save Heaven and Earth begins.

The Case

Gwak Yi (Jung Woo-Sung, Musa the Warrior), a wandering warrior, rids a
village of some sinister demons. The villagers offer him a hearty meal as a
reward, only to reveal they've poisoned it to collect a bounty on Gwak Yi's
head. Gwak Yi wakes up in the afterlife, specifically in "Mideheaven,"
a holding area where souls wait 49 days to return to Earth for reincarnation.
Only, Gwak Yi isn't technically dead. This draws the attention of local deity
So-Hwa (Kim Tae-hee), who eventually involves Gwak Yi in a battle between her
people and more demons. The demons have a sinister plan to conquer both
Midheaven and Earth, but, unfortunately for them, Gwak Yi and his awesome
fighting skills stand in their way.

At least, I think that's what happens.

Honestly, I couldn't follow anything going on this movie. It has tons of
style, special effects and martial arts action, and that's all good, but who can
make any sense of this crazy story? Everyone in Midheaven stands around in lines
apparently waiting to be catalogued. There are special baths the characters have
to take for some reason. It's never explained just what So-Hwa's position or
importance in Midheaven is. Who are the demons? Do they want anything other than
to "rule?" Don't even get me started on the scrolls or the magic sword
or the portals or any other random stuff.

At this point, you might scream at me, telling me to pay more attention, or
reminding me that it's a foreign film. But this is beyond the usual
hard-to-follow movie. I'm the guy people turn to when they can't figure out Eraserhead (the whole middle part of
the movie takes place in Henry's imagination). I'm the one who always has to
explain why the little kid in Iron
Monkey is so important (he grows up to be folk hero Wong Fei-Hung). But
The Restless, is not about being dense or esoteric, it's that the
narrative is so clunky and disjointed, and the "world" of the film so
poorly-defined, that there's just no following what's happening.

A better comparison would be with David Lynch's Dune. It's an amazing-looking movie, taking
place in an exotic fantasy world with a lot of eye-popping visuals. But the
story ended up just too big for a two-hour film, and a lot of the details of how
this world worked and the intricacies of the plot were lost on viewers. I felt
the same way watching The Restless. It's beautiful and otherworldly, but
what good does all the eye candy do when you don't know why it's relevant to the
plot?

If for some reason you're interested in The Restless strictly for the
visuals and the effects, you might find more to enjoy than I did. The
cinematography truly is gorgeous, making nearly every shot an eye-popper. The
fight choreography is also top notch, in the high-flying wuxia style. Especially
notable is how those in Midheaven die, by bursting into fire and ash in an
excellent effect. But, then, I wonder how all these demons and warriors can
"die" while in the afterlife, and then I'm back to being frustrated
with the lack of context in the script.

The widescreen picture and 5.1 sound make for an excellent presentation on
DVD. The three behind-the-scenes featurettes reveal how much hard work and
enthusiasm went into this project, which gives me a guilt trip about saying so
many mean things about it.

I just can't recommend this one on cool visuals alone. Not when I walked
away this frustrated with the story. Guilty.